A woolly welcome in WITNEY

Yes, it’s January, and yes, naturally it’s freezing out there, so why not head over to Witney, where world-class blankets, pies and welcoming townsfolk are enough to warm anyone’s cockles

- Anna Bailey

Whilst by no means a small or out of the way sort of place, Witney probably isn’t the first name that springs to mind when you think of classic Cotswold towns. And yet, settled on the banks of the River Windrush, Witney is one of the region’s finest examples of a modern, working town seamlessly blended with historical and picturesque allure.

The town centre is busy with tourists and locals alike, but it isn’t the sort of jostling crowd one might expect to find in, say, Bourton-on-the-Water or Broadway. Merely a steady flow of people going about their daily lives, which makes this place feel very real and not just like something from a postcard. That being said, Witney is by no means without its beauty. Climbing the winding high street, I am reminded a little bit of Bath, with all its sloped streets flanked by tall, stately buildings. Witney has a certain country elegance that would not be out of place in one of the West Country’s Regency spa towns.

The wealth of Witney came from its woollen blankets, which, until 2002, it had been producing since the Middle Ages. There are still memorials to this once-booming industry to be found all over town – from plaques commemorating blanket makers and their mills, some of which still stand, to the famous Witney Blanket Hall itself. Built in 1721 by the Company of Blanket Makers, the hall was one of the most important sites in town, where every blanket woven in Witney came to be weighed and measured according to the company’s trade rules.